Unlikely Hero
by GirlWednesday
Summary: An irate patient causes trouble for Louise and Dixie is on hand to help.


Saturday night in the E.D as Louise was finding out was hectic. It was nearing midnight and the casualties of Holby's pubbing and clubbing scene were piling in; each one more drunk than the last.

Louise had always prided herself on her efficiency and ability to keep a cool head, however Noel had unexpectedly come down with the flu which had left Louise manning the desk single handed ;this coupled with difficult and abusive patients was making her shift extremely unpleasant.

The waiting room was packed and the doctors and nurses were struggling which had left patients waiting for a long time. Inevitably Louise had found herself the one in the firing line for all the complaints.

Shifting through the paperwork she was determined to keep on top of everything, she was never one to admit defeat and she wasn't going to start now. "Alphabetise and prioritise." She noted to herself. If Noel could do this, then so could she.

She took a second to glance up at the clock, she still had another three hours of her shift left and already she was exhausted. Her feet were blistered; her fingers were covered in paper cuts, her eyes were strained and her head was pounding with a monstrous migraine.

As if that wasn't bad enough, she found her pen had a terrible habit of blotting and she was pretty sure a patient had run off with her stapler (personally she didn't see the point in taking a stapler but leaving the staples.)

A loud booming voice from over the other side of the desk abruptly pulled her out of her thoughts. "Oi you, how long is this going to take?"

She looked up to see a woman with a large cut across her face and blood seeping out of her nose. She stank heavily of alcohol and cigarettes, her eyes had a fierce look in them and she was twice the size of Louise.

She painted on her most convincing smile and kept her voice at the politest level she could manage. "We're trying out best to get through each patient. So if you could just take a seat, a doctor will call you when it's your turn."

"And when will that be?"

"Once the high priority cases have been seen to. Right now I have to ask you to take a seat."

"Oh I see how it is, all you arrogant sods think you're above treating the likes of me so you make me wait."

Taking a deep breath, Louise bit down on her tongue in restraint. "We have a triage system where we treat patients in accordance of the seriousness of their problem, with that in mind it is only natural that a person suffering with a heart attack or someone involved in an RTC would be a higher priority than someone with a minor cut on their face."

This only served to anger the woman further as she leant over the desk, pushing her face in closer to Louise's. "You wanna watch your mouth."

Louise desperately darted her eyes around her room in search of one of her colleagues. Her heart sank upon seeing that everyone was too preoccupied to notice what was happening. "Could you please just step away from the desk and sit down?" She was barely able to mask the fear in her voice which added fuel to the already blazing fire.

"What's wrong? Don't think you could handle yourself?"

She raised her voice slightly in attempts to assert her authority. "Step away from the desk and sit down."

Sensing that her performance had visibly shaken the receptionist, she let out a satisfied laugh. "Look at you, you're pathetic."

Before Louise had chance to respond a northern accent belonging to familiar paramedic cut in. "Oh love, you really are delusional because the only pathetic one here is you."

The angered patient stepped away from the desk and turned to face the newly involved person. "And who are you?"

"Never mind who I am. I think the question here is who the hell do you think you are?"

She opened her mouth to talk however no comeback could be thought of.

Louise spoke up from where she was stood. "Dixie its okay. I can handle it."

"I know you can." Dixie humoured whilst staring out the irate patient with an icy glare. "Now you heard her, sit down!"She kept her voice at a calm level yet somehow this made it seem all the more threatening. Her eyes were burning with sheer determination making it obvious that she wasn't going to back down.

The woman without protest stepped away from the desk and proceeded to make her way towards the seats once more but Dixie wasn't finished."Whoa, whoa, whoa; where do you think you're going?"

"You told me to sit down and I'm sitting down."

"Not until you apologise to Louise you're not."

"You what?"

"You heard me, apologise."

Louise noticed how suddenly the whole waiting room had fallen quiet and all eyes were on them.

"Sorry, alright?"

Dixie shook her head. "Look at her when you say it and sound like you mean it."

Unwilling to be embarrassed further she turned to face Louise. "I'm sorry."

"Is that all, you've got to say to her?"

Her shoulders slumped, making it clear to all that Dixie had gained the upper hand. "Ok, I'm sorry. I'll sit down and wait my turn."

Louise narrowed her eyes at the woman. "Next time I'm calling security."

Wordlessly she retreated back, taking a seat over the far side of the room and with that the silence soon passed.

Louise brought her eyes to meet Dixie's, unsure of what to say. "You know I could've handled that myself."

"Sure you could."

"I could've!"

Dixie couldn't help but smile. "Maybe next time, you can prove it to me."

Swallowing her uncertainty and masking how shaken she was, Louise gave her a confident smile. "I will and you'll see."

Dixie walked away from the desk. "I'll look forward to it."

As she walked towards the exit she couldn't help but let out a laugh and despite having her back turned she knew Louise would be watching every step she took.

Making her way towards the ambulance she bumped into her partner. "You've got that look in your eyes!" He smirked.

"You what?"

"I know you too well. You've met a bird you like haven't ya?"

"Don't be ridiculous Jeffrey. Now go and clean the ambulance."

He sighed, mentally cursing himself for getting involved. "Right, I guess I deserved that. I'll go get the mop."

After he left she heard her phone vibrate in her pocket, signalling the receiving of a text message.

**1 new message.**

**Sender: Louise.**

**How about a drink sometime? **

She glanced back into the E.D and spotted Louise watching her phone in eager anticipation. Dixie hovered her thumb over the keypad for a few seconds before changing her mind. "I'll wait a few minutes; I don't want to seem too keen."


End file.
